April
29th,
2018
A
light rain in the morning, hardly a spot really, followed by sunny
intervals for the rest of the day. Actually the best weather for
days! Lovely if rather cool.
Where
can one get breakfast consisting of two fried eggs, three bread
rolls, a large mug of milky coffee and a glass jug full of warmed
fruit juice, just squeezed from fresh fruit, and all for just six
Soles, about £1.50? I slowly, carefully eat it all as this is the
first meal I have had for three days. Since Huanza I have had fruit,
water biscuits, crackers and yogurt, other than the little bit of
cheese I was given by the kind Miguel and Germano at Milloc yesterday
morning and when arrived here last night after darkness had fallen I
was too exhausted to eat so, having found the hotel eventually, I
went to sleep. A reason to be grateful for the big mug of hot coffee
is precisely because it is just that, hot. There is no heating
anywhere in the hotel and at 14,560 feet mornings are cold. Cupping
gloved hands around the coffee mug is a wonderful way to warm up.
Four
village boys come in for their breakfast so we give names and they
use my binoculars, There is a wall just outside the back of the large
restaurant and various birds come to land and sit and stare;
Bright-rumped Yellow Finches are the most common as little parties of
them of four or five come and go. Two Andean Flickers take up station
as do two new birds for the Green List, Black-billed
Shrike Tyrant
and Plain-breasted
Earthcreeper.
Three new birds over breakfast, I have already looked over the
beautiful lagoon and seen a small number of Masked
Ducks.
The boys finish using the bins, complete their breakfast and together
we play a form of Pool on a large table at the back of the room. With
the lads it is conversation as well as my limited Spanish can muster
and fun.
Three
security guards for the village arrive for their breakfast and
immediately they sit down at a table and immediately shut themselves
away with their smartphones. No conversation, they just eat. Once
they have finished though they do come in and join in with our pool,
which is a shame as one of them is a master and proceeds to knock
spots off us.
Eight
in the morning, breakfast is finished and Elizabeth and Hose are
thanked gratefully, I have had the enjoyment of playing a couple of
games of pool with wonderful men and seen three new birds for the
Green Year list. Not a bad start to the day. Off outside it is cold
but dry and I walk into the village, quiet as it is Sunday. I notice
though that the two churches are locked though. A long street of
mud-brick, corrugated iron houses has two large bushes, the only ones
I can see in the area, and pishing brings two Rufous-collared
Sparrows out to investigate. On the roof of a building next to a
small alley that leads to a colourfully painted Primary School, two
Andean Flickers sit and are unconcerned by my passing.
Walking
to the village square, typical of Peruvian villages and indeed cities
on a grander scale, for square it is with a large statue of a Puma
dominating the centre, small bushes, paths and benches arranged in a
criss cross, St George's flag style. The surrounding road has a
permanent volleyball net set over it and a minibus and two space
wagons negotiate around this fixture.
Out
of the village the compacted dirt road leads the way I entered last
night and in the daylight the view over the lake is tremendous. At
each end of what I can see of the lagoon, I know from a map that I
have that it extends much further south around a rocky corner, are
high snow-capped peaks and between these are extensive grasslands.
Where this road goes by the lagoon there are a number of ducks on the
shore, a Lesser Yellowlegs and some Giant Coots, living up to their
name, on the water. Beautiful, blue/black-billed, white-cheeked Puna
Teal
and Yellow-billed
Pintails
are on the shore and are new for the list and the other duck species
are counted for the eBird record to be added once I have internet
service. There are also a few Puna Ibis, short almost black plumaged
birds. I love these eBird days when I can relax and bird with no time
pressure to get somewhere. Here it really is apt to say, 'What is
this world if full of care, one has no time and stop and stare.'
A
turn to the left and there are two small, open buildings where three
people are doing their laundry by battering it on planks held over
longitudinal sinks. Using cold water and large soap bars they laugh
as they work, rubbing the soap along their clothes before rinsing.
Compare this, all done in freezing cold water straight from the lake,
with laundry done elsewhere. No automatic washing machines here yet
the friendship, laughter and conversation between the participants
points to our having lost something.
Walking
a,little further there is a small cage, locked, which has a sign over
it which translates to Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and within it there are
five small plastic bins for each material type.
Behind
some barbed wire fencing along the road there are tufts of Puna grass
and a Canyon
Canestero
is feeding close by.
A really obliging bird, at one point there is
less than a few feet between us, well that and a small rock that it
is behind. It isn't bothered by me though as it creeps between grass
tufts and searches for food.
Over
a small bridge the road splits and I take the one that leads uphill.
There is a dark soiled ploughed field here that has seven superb
looking Andean Lapwings on and over forty Bright-rumped Yellow
Finches. These finches are very tame and allow one to walk right past
them. The road leads to a mobile phone mast enclosure which has a
building and high razor wire fence surround, all protected for by a
barking wildly blonde coloured dog. A party of four Incan villagers
pass with their three black & white sheepdogs. One of their dogs
tries to attack the incarcerated dog through the wire, both baring
their teeth at each other and snarling viciously. I pass cautiously
and as with everyone one passes, greeting are given and received.
There
are very few birds along this road. A couple of Mountain Caracaras
fly over, as do some Variable Hawks. Ground birds are almost absent.
There are just a couple of Ochre-naped
Ground Tyrants.
There are though lots of sheep and in the distance up a ridge there
is a large herd of llamas. I start to realise that this landscape is
not natural. The grassland is overgrazed and lacks the flowers and
large grassy tussocks that would be here without the domesticated
herds. This is a man-made habitat with spectacular eruptions of
mountainous, snow-capped rocky peaks.
Down
in the valley a shepherd is resting next to a haystack and his three
dogs see me and start to bark and climb the hill towards me. Dogs, a
problem when travelling on foot in Peru. Most are the loving pet
animal that we all love. Some though are vicious, snarling, snapping
animals who seem to want blood. I turn around and walk back towards
the village. Luckily the three dogs, once they cannot see me due to
the valley shape, stop their chase and by peaking over the edge I can
see them go back to the shepherds small hut.
Back
near the lagoon there is a small building made for sheltering sheep
about five foot tall with a corrugated iron roof. I sit down against
the stone and watch. An Andean Negrito comes close, as does a
Dark-winged
Miner
and a Plain-breasted Earthcreeper. Out over the water a Chilean
Flamingo
flies.
Walking
over some bog with a small stream, hoping for an ambition bird, the
beautiful Diademed Plover but not seeing one, there is a Black-billed
Shrike Tyrant, an Andean Swallow and a couple of noisy Andean
Flickers, Down at the shoreline are coot and duck and a single
White-tufted
Grebe.
Back
at the bridge my appearance startles a Cincloides species, which
flies off downstream like a huge, chestnut-coloured Dipper and
disappears around the corner. I am not sure which species it was and
so I climb the barbed wire fence though and follow the stream
Back
at the small bay by the village a close by Chilean Flamingo is
preening, as are four Puna Teal. From here it is just a couple of
hundred yards to the proud archway telling one that they have arrived
at Marcopomacocha, with it's two statues; one of a large trout and
the other of a Puma.
Into
a shop in the village, the lady behind the counter greets me as an
old friend, as does her large black and very friendly dog. She wants
to know when I am leaving and whether I managed to walk around the
lagoon. This last comment is due to the fact that when we met last
night, when half a dozen villagers were trying to find the key to the
old hostel in the square, unsuccessfully hence my being in the 'new'
one, She joked that I should walk around the lagoon thinking that I
didn't know of it's immense size. She is genuinely pleased that I am
staying until Tuesday. Walking through the village there is a mass of
red meat handing from a doorway and long lines of washing at the back
of most houses. It must take some time to dry in these cool
temperatures but this afternoon's sunshine must help. That reminds me
. . . I must wash my socks! Cold water scrub in a sink.
After
leaving my purchases at the hotel, I do walk some of the lagoon's
perimeter road for about three miles. With me is another extremely
friendly and very subservient and lovely dog, who I name Doug. He or
she, I didn't look, comes with me the whole way, usually no more than
a couple of feet from my feet. Occasionally I turn around thinking
she has gone back to the hotel only to find that she is there right
at my feet. The terrain is rougher here, more stony with intermittent
small bushes. Birds are still few but they are interesting,
especially the wonderful Black-breasted
Hillstar,
a smashing, medium-sized hummingbird.
Six Speckled
Teal
are on the shore with a couple of Giant Coot. Otherwise there are a
couple of Dark-winged Miners, a few Plain-coloured Seedeaters, some
Ash-breasted Sierra Finches and Bright-rumped Yellow Finches.
Doug
and I return to the hotel to find that the restaurant won't be open
tonight. A tin of tuna, a few crackers and some Maracuya juice will
have to suffice.
Green
Year list : 178 birds average new birds to list per day : 6.14
birds
Distance
walked : 3,95 miles
elevation
: up 340 feet, down 354 feet
altitude
: 14,521 feet
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